Kumrod Family July 2023

Thank you for your prayers for our family in the transition from Chonburi to Chiang Mai! We have been here almost three months now! We thank God for providing a home for our family and providing a Family Transition Fun Day at the Well International, a Christian member care center in Chiang Mai, to help us process our transition.

Among other tools to process our transition as a family, we learned about the "Transition Bridge" and to watch out for "chaos worms."

In this picture, we are deciding where we are on the "Transition Bridge" at the Well. Acknowledging we are at different places helps us understand each other more in the transition journey. Praise God Ozz has recovered from his sprained ankle and was playing soccer with our boys today!

Ozz has loved joining the team of Khun Nuey, Khun Aire, Multiply missionary Cynthia Friesen and Joon, TMBCA (Thailand MB Church Association) intern who also recently moved to serve in Northern Thailand. They are serving together in a community about 30 minutes from our house where they are planting a new church and reaching out to family and neighbors to share God's love and the gospel. Husband & wife team & TMBCA interns, Khun Nuey & Khun Aire are being empowered to be the pastors of this emerging church. They meet on Sunday evenings for fellowship, worship, Bible study, prayer and a meal together. The leadership team rotates through sharing the responsibility of leading the Bible study and leading worship so everyone gets experience and grows in using their gifts.

On Thursdays the team goes out to visit church members and neighbors to share the gospel. Ozz was made for this and has a deep passion to share the good news of Jesus together with the team. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

Khun Nuey and Khun Aire baptised their son, Ball. Please pray for God's blessing and provision for this family as they choose to follow and trust Jesus together. They are praying for an opportunity to start a small business to suppliment their income and be a way to build relationships to share the gospel as they serve God as interns. Khun Aire already makes and sells delicious salsa and cinnamon rolls.

Four people where baptised on May 28, 2023. Hallelujah! Please pray for these new believers who are committing to follow and trust in Jesus. The battle is real, but praise God for love, forgiveness and encouagement of a church family. Please pray for the lady sitting down who is pregnant with twins and will deliver next month. Her husband and son have the green and blue towels.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

These are framed pictures with Bible verses to remind and encourage each new member of the blessings and responsibilities of being a part of the family of God signed by each person and their pastors, Khun Nuey and Khun Aire.

These women are being discipled in a loving work environment as they also sew and create many beautiful things to sell in order to support their families.

Ozz leading a Bible study at Naomi House. He says all the women and some of their husbands who also join the cell group Bible study and fellowship are so eager to learn. Praise God for this opportunity to study God's word together.

I enjoyed visiting the Naomi House to join them for lunch and to see all the beautiful things they are creating. "He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, as designers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and in fine linen, and as weavers." Exodus 35:35

Thank you for praying for the development of a team in Northern Thailand for making disciples, training leaders and planting churches together. God is answering our prayers and we will continue to trust him with each step forward.

"As for God his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him." Pslam 18:30 I have been thankful to invest time in learning to read and write Thai and also help our boys adjust to their new home and community.

We invite you to continue to pray for our boys as we are trusting God for their education. So far we are discerrning that Grace International School would be the best place for them. GIS was founded to provide a high-quality education from a Biblical Worldview to the children of International Christian workers located in Southeast Asia. However, we are still trusting God for the tuition. Even with the Multiply member discount, the tuition and fees for one year is about $6,300 per child. We would need $18,900 for three of our boys for one year.

We thank God for a media team from Canada that visited Thailand and created this video for us giving an update about our new season of ministry based in Chiang Mai. "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Matthew 9:35-38 NRSV) Is God calling you?

• We thank God for an opportunity to teach English once a week in a Buddhist temple school in the Mae Wang area which allows us to share God's love in a practical way and build relationships there. There is one Christian teacher in the school who has been praying for Christians to come and help her at the school. She is thankful for our team that just recently blessed the school with metal plates for their students, rice, eggs and canned fish.
• We thank God for Living Hope Church in Henderson, NE and their VBS offering which will go to bless the kids in this school and at the upcoming Kids Club in RimKhan Community with a bag of practical items that they can use such as a spoon, a cup, pencil, pen, eraser, liquid paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, face cloth, snacks, milk and a tract about Jesus.

• Please pray for "Fruitful Churches that Multiply" Internship Camp on July 28-30 in Rayong. Pray that our TMBCA leaders would have unified vision in our mission of evangelism, discipleship & church planting. Pray that the pastors, leaders and interns would be encouraged, equipped and revived by the preaching, workshops and fellowship together. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

• Praise God for all the churches and individuals who are part of our team that has allowed us to reach 63% of our Phase Three budget goal with Multiply (which includes education at GIS for our boys). If you'd like to partner with us financially, you can click here to support us through Multiply. https://multiply.net/global-worker/wanchai-ozz-and-sara-fast-kumrod. Our project number at Multiply is C0830. I will continue to contact people to invite them to join a zoom call with Ozz & I to learn more about how to pray with us and partner with God's work in Thailand. If you'd like to schedule a zoom call or have someone to suggest that I contact, we'd love to connect with you.
  

Together for the Harvest,

Ozz, Sara, Elijah, Ezekiel, Ezra and Elisha

Email: saraf@multiply.net
Location: Chiang Mai, Thailand
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.kumrod